Take Your Time (Coming Home)
by floatsodelicately
Summary: Harry and Ron organise a surprise birthday party for Hermione that brings about a different kind of surprise entirely.
1. Party

'It's a beautiful thing when you love somebody,

And I love somebody.'

Take Your Time (Coming Home) – Fun.

* * *

It was Hermione's birthday and after weeks of planning and keeping secrets, Harry and Ron had managed to organise her party without her finding out. They knew that she didn't like to make a fuss about her birthday, but she was _21_ this year and they wanted to celebrate it with more than just the quiet lunch date that they took her on every year.

It was 9 o'clock when the boys told the guests to arrive. Hermione was working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and often worked late, she had told them at lunch that she wanted to clear her desk today and probably wouldn't be home until late in the evening. She lived in a muggle apartment building and entered the muggle way since she often saw her neighbours in the halls.

At around 10, Fred and George, who had stationed themselves by the door to keep a lookout, heard low voices and the jingling of keys that stopped outside Hermione's door. With frantic whispers, they warned the rest of the guests who promptly hid themselves, some either hiding behind furniture or curtains and others merely disillusioning themselves where they sat.

Harry peered over the back of the sofa, still invisible, to see Hermione opening the door. She wasn't wearing her work robes, or the shirt and skirt and sensible shoes that she wore as well. She was wearing a one-shouldered, sleeveless dress that faded from black at the shoulder to green towards the bottom. The cinched in waist highlighted her slim stomach and the curve of her hips. She could still shock him when she dressed like that, reminding him that she wasn't just his bookworm best friend, and she was also a beautiful young woman.

He was distracted by his thoughts when he saw a man following closely behind her, with an arm wrapped tightly around her waist. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, something that roused a giggle from his normally sensible friend. He couldn't see who it was, but judging from the way he moved inside and shut the door behind him, it wasn't his first visit to Hermione's home.

Hermione dropped her purse on the console table, not seeing Ginny's mystified expression as she gaped up at the couple from beneath it, and draped her hand around his neck. Harry could see that the man was tall as Hermione was wearing heels and still had to pull him down to meet her in a kiss.

After a few uncomfortable moments for the invisible party guests, during which the kisses got more intense and the breathing became harsher, a ragged whisper tore from the man's lips.

"Bedroom?"

"Uh huh," Hermione answered instantly as he picked her up and her legs wrapped around him without a second thought.

Harry winced and buried his head in the sofa cushion, not wanting to see what his best friend, practically his sister, was doing anymore. He heard the sounds of their shoes moving across the hardwood floor and unfortunately, the moan that slipped from Hermione's lips just before the bedroom door slammed shut.

After a few seconds of silence, embarrassed and amused party guests emerged from their hiding places. The twins could barely stifle their laughter and were holding each other up as they fought against it. Ron was just blinking, apparently unable to process what had happened. The older guests, such as Molly and Arthur, were similarly shocked.

Harry cast Muffliato around the group so that Hermione and her…_guest_…wouldn't hear them before they left.

"So…erm…that was definitely a surprise," he started with a slightly uncomfortable smile.

"Definitely," Ginny continued, still dazed by what she had seen. "Did you know that she was seeing Ma-anyone?"

"No," he shook his head, "She didn't mention anything. She say anything to you, Ron?"

Ron shook his head quickly, "No. Nope. Didn't say anything…"

"Did anyone see who…?" he trailed off.

Fred looked down at the floor and found a suit jacket that had apparently been shed on their way to her bedroom. "Didn't see who it was, but this jacket is his."

"Looks expensive," George added, inspecting the lining.

"It is," Fred confirmed, pointing at the label on the inner pocket.

"Ah," George nodded, "Anderson & Sheppard. That's-"

"Muggle. About £2000, that's-"

"400 galleons. Yeesh, this jacket's probably worth more than-"

"Excuse me!" Harry interrupted. "I don't care about his suit! Hermione has a secret boyfriend-"

"Who's rich!" Fred piped in.

"See! We helped!" George chirped from beside him.

"But who is he?!" Harry groaned, falling back onto the sofa. A sudden thought came to him, "Ginny! You were closest! Did you see who it was?"

The girl in question shifted uncomfortably, "Maybe we should talk about it when everyone has gone home and Hermione isn't in the next room."

"No, just tell me now and then we can-"

"No, Harry, I refuse to talk to you about this when-"

"For Merlin's sake, Ginny, just tell me who it is!"

"No, really Harry, you need to calm down and-"

"Ginny! Just-"

_"Draco!"_

The silence in the room was deafening as their heads snapped towards the voice coming from behind the bedroom door.

Harry shook his head, "No, it can't be. Why would-?"

_"Oh, Draco!"_

"But why would-?"

He was interrupted by a deep voice from the bedroom, _"Hermione!" _

"Ok! That's enough! We need to go! Now!" Harry rushed out in one uncomfortable breath as he pulled his wand from his pocket and with a twist, he was gone, the other guests all following suit.

* * *

A.N. This is just a one-shot for now, I might continue it later :)


	2. Lunch

_**Last chapter:**_ "_Draco!" The silence in the room was deafening as their heads snapped towards the bedroom door. Harry shook his head, "No, it can't be. Why would-?" "Oh, Draco!" "But why would-?" He was interrupted by a deep voice from the bedroom, "Hermione!" "Ok! That's enough! We need to go! Now!" Harry rushed out in one uncomfortable breath as he pulled his wand from his pocket and with a twist, he was gone, the other guests all following suit._

* * *

Harry and Hermione had a standing lunch date every Friday, so he had no choice but to try and forget the awkwardness that he felt when he thought of his best female friend since the surprise party that was very surprising. He had finished the backlog of case reports that he was planning on using as an excuse to miss their lunch as he powered through them, wishing not to hear the moans of his favourite bookworm and their enemy turned unhappy acquaintance.

Malfoy worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sports in the Quidditch division and had to work with the Auror department occasionally when there were big games or when players were involved in investigations. Harry and Ron had recently dealt with him when the Puddlemere United player Oliver Wood had a stalker that kept leaving Oliver-shaped topiaries outside – and eventually _inside_ – his house.

When he could procrastinate no longer, Harry checked his watch and saw that he was early but decided to head on over to Hermione's office, and so made his way down to the cafeteria to pick up some sandwiches for Hermione and himself. A little while later, he stepped out of the lift on the fourth level with a bag that held their lunch. He walked down the corridor, nodding at those who greeted him as he attempted to forget what he – and the rest of their friends – had witnessed a few nights ago.

He should have expected it. Part of him _did_ expect it. But turning the corner to see Malfoy, the ferret, leaving Hermione's office made him squirm.

Harry quickly ducked behind the wall, waiting until Malfoy's head of blonde hair walked past him and disappeared out of sight before resuming on his path to Hermione's office. He finally reached the door and knocked.

"Come in!" Hermione's voice called.

Harry opened the door and walked inside, looking around at the sea of boxes that filled the room. "What's all this?"

Hermione appeared from behind a stack of boxes with a stack of papers that she then stuffed inside the top box and sealed it shut with her wand. "I quit," she said simply before shrinking the tower of boxes so that they were small enough to pick up and put in her handbag.

"Y-you quit?" Harry stammered. "W-what? When did this happen?"

"Yep. Quit. About thirty minutes ago," she said as she took the bag from Harry and started to plate up their lunches.

"But…why? I mean, you love your job-"

"I _did_ love my job," Hermione interrupted. "I loved my job when I thought that I could make a difference, when I thought that all of my hard work would actually mean something."

"What do you mean?"

"All of this," she said angrily as she gestured to the papers that weren't yet packed, "means nothing. I wasn't hired to make a difference. I was hired because I'm _Hermione Granger_! One-third of the Golden Trio, Brightest Witch of Her Age, Gryffindor Princess, whatever you want to call it, I was hired because of who I am, not what I can do. If they want to pass over all of my ideas and treat anything that isn't 100% normal human like they're some kind of savage, then so be it, _they_ can deal with it when the goblins are threatening to close off access to the Gringott's vaults when their rights are cut down. _They_ can deal with the centaurs when they reach for their bows when some idiot goes and trespasses on their land and picks a fight, like I had to last week when Trevor Birch decided that he would go camping in the woods and refused to move."

"But surely if you stayed a bit longer then-"

"Harry, I've been working here for almost two years. I have only had one piece of legislation that my boss has even considered passing on to anyone higher up, _and he didn't_."

"Maybe you just need more experience-"

"No. It's not that. He told me, Harry, he told me that there was no point in me handing in the proposal for a new dragon reserve – you remember Charlie mentioned that they were finding more illegally bred dragons in the UK?- since they wouldn't even be considering it."

"Well, maybe they don't have the funds for-" he tried to defend around a mouthful of his ham sandwich.

"They don't have the funds for illegally bred and seriously unhealthy and dangerous dragons but they have the money for what is essentially, a nursing home for old post owls?!"

"Wait a minute," Harry tried to hide his smile, "Run that one by me again."

Hermione gestured angrily towards the door with her baguette, "That idiot, Mockridge, gets all of his ideas passed through, _no matter how stupid or unnecessary_, just because his father works here and they have the money to 'anonymously' donate to 'worthy causes'."

"You have the money to 'anonymously' donate, Hermione," he reminded her.

"Yes," she huffed, "but I don't do it, because that's not how governments are supposed to work. Anyway, I'm not thinking about it anymore. Mockridge can go build himself a castle and live with the nargles for all I care."

Harry sipped his butterbeer and looked worriedly at his best friend, "So what are you going to do?"

"I've had some offers…" she answered, looking very intently at her sandwich as she avoided his gaze.

"What kind of offers?"

"I was talking to Professor McGonnagal last week about teaching and-"

"You're teaching at Hogwarts?"

"No, not at Hogwarts. She's been looking at opening up a new school, for younger children. She said that I should think about it and get back to her…do you think that I could teach?"

Harry was surprised when she looked up at him with unsure eyes, it wasn't often that his best friend wasn't certain about something and it always shocked him for her to seem so…normal...after all that they had been through and how strong she always seemed.

"Are you kidding?" he smiled, "Yes, you can teach. I think that Ron and me-"

"Ron and I," she corrected before she could stop herself.

Harry raised an eyebrow and smiled at her, "_Ron and I_ would still be stuck in Hogwarts if it wasn't for you."

Hermione blushed slightly but scoffed at him, "Don't be ridiculous, that wasn't me, you're intelligent on your own."

"Believe what you want, but you can teach. You led those study group sessions in sixth year, you tutored the younger students too. You'd be good at this, Hermione," he leaned back in his seat and drank his butterbeer, looking at her seriously.

They sat in silence for a few moments, Hermione lost in her thoughts as Harry contemplated whether or not to confront her about Malfoy. Without much thought, he started speaking.

"So, Hermione…got any secret boyfriends?"


End file.
